Dale Hollow, the lake brings up dreams of monster smallies and gin clear water unfortunately when I showed up to pre fish the Bluegrass Kayakers Dale Hollow Lake event it had risen 7 ft. The heavily stained water made for a slow pre fishing, making the trip with my buddy Bert it’s always nice to have a travel partner.

This event holding a special meaning for me, Dale Hollow being the first Bluegrass Kayakers event after the KBF National Championship and wanting to put a stamp on my first tourney after NC. My focus on this event was laser focused, absorbing anything and everything that even remotely had anything to do with fish in the lake. Learning that the largemouth bass have been producing some large ones and thinking this may be a edge.

Scouting out areas that hold some largemouth figuring out a solid pattern and finding 3 spots that holds good solid chunkers. So now I have my A,B, and C spots setting up my confidence. Running into Daryl and Daryl (yes this was their names) we chat about Dale Hollow and fishing stealthy. They bring up how they are fishing a main lake flat 5 miles out using a smoke colored tubes and gave me a pack of them. Some people find tournament fishing stressful for me I find it relaxing, being able to just focus on one thing and one thing only, catching fish.

Getting to the captains meeting picking up our identifiers and they warn us about some motor boat tournaments going on at the same time. And we are off, after hauling butt to get to my spot A which was almost 2 miles form the launch I notice a bass boat wrapped in blue haul ass out of my cove, no big deal just one boat than a second ones come out and little did I know a third was hiding in the back. They pick the place clean of large bass and i had to go into ultra finesse mode working every tree and bush to pull three fish limit but nothing bigger than 17 inches.

Off to plan B and B was for bunk, nothing but dinks and off to plan C hitting the main points.

With plan C failing to produce large fish I decide to go free form and just scout some small flats and look for smallies finding a small flat with some boulders on it and the marks off those boulders took my breath away. For some reason i decided to throw the smoke colored tubes that Daryl and Daryl gave me, not sure why I normally would never throw a whitish tube. After a few casts I find that the smallies are waiting for me to rip the tube up and let it drop. The smallest was 18 inches and they were hungry and in roughly two hours put 30 plus fish on the boat and catching my personal best smallie at 20 inches.

The one that got away. Their was one that I almost could not get off the bottom and when I did it managed to wrap my line around my rutter. She commenced to jumping out of the water repeatedly still hooked and my line still wrapped around my rutter the dam fish was way bigger than my 20 incher. That dam fish jumped into my kayak! Without hesitating I jump on the fish trying to wrestle it, she was incredibly strong and pushed past me and got away. That fish was a fish of a lifetime but I am so glad I got to feel its strength and to see her.

staying and missing check in because the fishing was just that good. But my better judgement took over and I am glad I did. Bert broke the top ten a goal he set for himself and when you look at the top ten list it’s very impressive list of names. Huge thanks to Bluegrass Kayakers, Dairyqueen for hosting us and my sponsors Strictly sail and Hobie Kayaks.

This is the story of my journey to the Kayak Bass Fishing National Championships

KBF National Championship: There and Back

The story technically starts over a year ago, at the 2016 KBF Open on Kentucky Lake. Having never been to Kentucky Lake, my buddy Bert Guthus and I made the long journey a few days prior to the start of the tournament in order to pre-fish and acclimate ourselves with the monstrosity that is Kentucky Lake. After a few days of fishing, we were dialed in. Big bass after big bass, we both had somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 inches on our final day of pre-fishing, a total that would certainly compete, if not win. Needless to say, we were pumped! The night before the tournament my mind was racing, going every different direction. I’m here and I’m ready to compete, but soon my thoughts are with my wife back home. At the time, she was going through some health issues, and I began to second guess my decision to leave her just so I could fish. My wife, her illness, my decision to fish, these thoughts followed me throughout the first half of 2016 Kayak Bass Fishing season.

Ok, back to fishing…The night before the start of the tournament, Mother Nature decides to throws a wrench in our plans. A cold front had moved through overnight which dropped the water temperature significantly, killing the bite we had found during our days pre-fishing. I was never able to make the proper adjustments and my focus just wasn’t there. I was not living in the moment. I was stuck, stuck on the pattern we found successful in the days leading up to the tournament. After hours of mindlessly searching for fish, and with no plan, I tanked. I ended the day with two fish, neither of which was big.

On the long drive home from Kentucky Lake, my mind was focused on two things: my wife, and what I needed to do to make it back to Kentucky Lake and compete for a KBF championship. What began as fun get-a-way, turned into a year-long quest for any and all information pertaining to Kentucky Lake. From techniques to tackle to location, I was consuming everything I could get my hands on to prepare myself for my return to KY Lake. To say I was obsessed would be an understatement.

Pre-fishing the 2017 National Championship

I was lucky enough to qualify for the KBF National Championship through our local trail (Buckeye Kayak Fishing Trail). With $35,000 guaranteed to 1st, I made it a priority to arrive early and pre-fish. I arrived on Sunday, which gave me 4 full days to pick the lake apart. Unfortunately, the first few days of pre-fishing did anything but help boost my confidence. I was able to find plenty of fish willing to bite, but the size just wasn’t there. My final day of pre-fishing was Thursday, and at the start of the day, I still didn’t have a Plan A or B that I felt gave me a realistic chance at taking home the Championship. The night before the final day of pre-fishing, my buddy Danny Bell clued me in on a few locations and techniques that he thought I should try. With this new info, I drove to 3 new locations during my last day of pre-fishing and found just what I was looking for: STAKE BEDS, secondary points and ledges, deep water, baitfish…this place was the magic spot I’d been searching for all week! Finally, with not another day to spare, I found my spot, my Plan A, and my Plan B.

At a Cross Roads

As the final day of pre-fishing came to an end, my thoughts were again focused on my wife. Thankfully, she is once again healthy and treatments are no longer necessary. The weight on my chest and the thoughts in my head were lighter and much easier to manage.

Prior to becoming a die-hard kayak fisherman, I was the owner of a small Bicycle shop which I sold last year. This gave me the opportunity to work part-time and focus more of my energy on fishing. As great as this is, it is not something I felt I could not sustain without being successful in the major KBF tournament series. While I’m not normally a person who openly talks about religion or my feelings, this is exactly what happened and why it was such an important moment for me personally. I found myself having a conversation with God, asking for guidance. Soon I envisioned myself at a fork in the road. Normally, this would leave me with anxiety, worry, and a lot of second-guessing, but for whatever reason, I was content with the situation and was totally at peace. Whatever happens in the next two days, I’m okay with it and that’s what was meant to be. I’ve done all I could to prepare for this moment and I’m ready to leave it all on the table.

Tournament Day 1

Despite my excitement to begin what I’ve prepared so long and hard for over the past year, I found myself running on fumes the morning of Day 1. Sharing a cabin with 8 other guys is great, and the comradery and friendships that were formed that week are priceless, but it wasn’t conducive to sleep, especially for a light-sleeper like myself. After cursing my alarm clock to hell and back, I ease out of bed and grab a cup of coffee before heading out to my secret location. What the heck, two anglers (Shae McCord and Timmy Syrnarong) somehow beat me to my spot, and I’m an hour and a half early!! I soon realize I’m not the only angler taking this to the extreme. Despite the fact that this tournament is the biggest and most competitive kayak bass fishing tournament to date, not to mention the huge prize pool, Shae and Timmy greet me in the parking lot and treat me like we’ve been friends for years. This speaks volumes about the character that our sport attracts more than any words I could write.

So after unloading my gear and finally getting on the water, I was met with a howling wind. Without my Hobie Pro Angler 14 and 180 reverse Mirage drive, I honestly don’t think I would have been as effective with my casts and presentation. After a quick scan of the area to check water temp and clarity, I soon realize that the pattern that worked so well for my buddy Danny, and worked so well for me the day before was still effective. The key to the first day was finding the bass relating to stake beds. Using a simple Texas rigged worm, which I would consider one of my strengths, I found that dragging the bait in and around stake beds would be my Plan A. The real ‘light bulb moment’ occurred when I realized the bigger fish were locating just outside the stake beds. With the heavy wind and increase in current, the big bass seemed to be using the stakes as a form of current break. I took this new information and began pitching my lure directly into the stake beds and dragging it just outside of the stakes. Then, once outside the stakes, it was a finesse and twitching game. I went from stake bed to stake bed, catching numerous fish, but found the biggest fish around the larger stake beds. Just like everyone who has ever picked up a rod and reel, I do have a story of the one that got away. She wrapped around the stake bed and all I could do was watch her repeatedly jump and she was by far the biggest fish I hooked. Although my biggest fish did come unbuttoned, I was still able to end Day 1 with a total of 99.75”, good enough for 2nd place!

Tournament Day 2

Once again, I wake up and am completely exhausted. I have not slept well in nearly a week, and the fact that I ended Day 1 in 2nd place, sleep did not come easy that night. I had only one thing in mind, largemouth bass! After my cup of rocket fuel (coffee), I stuck my head outside just prior to hitting the road and I quickly realize the conditions for Day 2 is going to change the fishing. The thoughts of the 2016 KBF Open begin to haunt my thoughts. I know even before I arrive at my location, that I will need to adjust, be open-minded, and stay focused at the task in hand.

After unloading my gear and yak, I’m once again on the water scouting the area and examining the conditions. The wind had done a 180 and was now coming out of the East, and water temp dropped to 6 degrees. After a quick and unsuccessful search for bass within the stake beds, I knew I had to enact Plan B.

Plan B began by searching the mouth of the cove and some main lake ledges, which I was not looking forward to it, it’s just not my strength. I was fortunate to find a huge school of fish sitting on a secondary ledge that went from 5’ to 15’. Now the problem was getting this school of bass to fire up and eat. I had tried just about everything in the box and was ready to give up when I finally hooked a decent fish in 5’ of water. That’s when I had another ‘light bulb moment’. The fish that were in 12-15’ of water were not feeding and wouldn’t even sniff my lures, but the fish found at the top of the ledge located in 5’ of water were catchable. I downsized my worm and craw imitation and it was game on. Every hour or so, a couple fish would relocate in the shallow water and that’s when I would catch them. It was a slow and tedious way to fish. It was a practice of patience. I didn’t move my kayak off that ledge for 4 hours despite knowing that only every hour or so would yield a chance of getting a bite. The bite was so slow, I almost left and headed to the check-in with 4 fish, one shy of a limit. With less than an hour to spare, I finally manage to land my 5th and final fish. You’d think I would be ecstatic being able to find a quality limit, but at this point in time, I was just too exhausted to be happy. Feeling like a zombie, I somehow load up my gear and yak and head back to tourney headquarters with a total of 88.75” on Day 2.

It took longer than expected for the results to be finalized. I kept asking if I could leave and they were pretty adamant when they told me I need to stick around for the results to be read. Why can’t I leave? I just want to sleep!! No longer making any sense when i was talking, so tired that the thought of winning was the last thing on my mind. Why are they making me stay here!?! It never crossed my mind that maybe I had won and they were making me stay so I could accept my award. At roughly 3am, Chad Hoover grabs my hand and raises it, announcing that I had won the KBF National Championship Huge thanks to everyone who worked so incredibly hard you do the heavy lifting, you guys are all my heroes.

The Road Back

After another night of little to no sleep, I left Paris and began my journey home. Wouldn’t you know it, my car starts acting up with about 300 miles to go. An ignition coil went bad and I had to limp my car home. All I wanted to do was get home see my wife and the dogs and it was a crawl the whole way home. I am still waiting to wake up but for as long as this dream lasts I’m running with it.
The most important part and what makes this experience so special to me are my friends, new and old, you are what makes every day worth something. I cannot express enough thanks and gratitude to Strictly Sail Inc for taking a chance on me before anyone else ever noticed me. Hobie Kayaks, thank you for letting me be a part of your Team!!! There is no way I could have accomplished this alone!!

Thank you everyone who made time to reach out to me. I hope to see you all on the water soon.

As I write this down I’m not even sure if I will post it. Sitting here in my comfortable chair looking back and trying to put all this in words and frankly I am at a lost to find the right ones. The last 12 months I have been geeking out on how to read and set up my fish finder to really get the maximum use out of it and it paid off.

Day 1 The Ohio River is on a slight rise and running at the perfect water level in my opinion, not to high and not to low. 50 yards from where I dunked my yak I begin to see the returns on my fish finder that really perking my interest. It’s not just about arches or footballs but how these arches and footballs relate to structure and each other. After just a few casts I knew my fish finder had not lied. Some schooling hybrids were finding my lipless crankbait and crushing it on a February day. Life just could not get much better. The interesting piece was that the fish were only biting if the bait was brought back against the current. Water temps 42 degrees with a slight wind from the south.

Day 2 Back to the spot from the day before and the fish finder looks even better. The fish are beginning to school by size, awful early for this type of behavior. I cast and I cast I manage to pick off a couple 17 inch white bass. Such amazing fish I really just love big White bass. I start to try different baits different retrieves and nothing. I decide to do a long slow troll over top of the three schools. Running a small swim bait on a long line. As I approach the three schools smash and a giant head shaking run. My lightbulb moment on the Ohio River.

As the fish finder revealed the fish were schooling by size and I could clearly see the bigger fish schooled up together. Once the Hybrids revealed that the long line troll with a tiny swim bait, against the current was what they wanted I knew what I was going to do the rest of the day. My day began to go completely insane. Targeting just the big slobs, they just could not help themselves and were crushing the bait. Some of the most violent hits I have ever personally felt, these fish are just plain amazing. Some of you wouldn’t believe the numbers and sizes. Others would think I am just being a fisherman and exaggerating. This was one of the most amazing fishing days I have ever had. We are truly lucky to have such

good fishing right here at home.

4 days before or recent warm front. Water temp still only 43 to 44 degrees but when you can unlock the code and find the fish some truly amazing things will happen. It took me 20 lure changes and more than a few times had me guessing what I thought I was seeing on my fishfinder was right. Finding the right lure with the right color and action, fished at the right depth and speed can be daunting but the payout can just be huge. I hope you found something useful for your own fishing in this Ohio River report if you liked it please subscribe.

There’s one simple truth about winter fishing, it’s tough and not for everyone. With the need of special safety gear, the cold weather and the need to fish slow and ultra small this all adds to the tough conditions. Grinding it out for weeks in these conditions is not what I would call easy. Don’t get me wrong the quality has been there, big fish have been caught but it’s one here one there and spread out. The people I meet on the river are few and far between this time of year but we all have a kindred spirits with shared hypothermia.

As the slow fishing grinds you down you know that it will change and the bite will be back. Finally the Ohio river and its tributaries are starting to give up the stripes in numbers I made it to the other side of the grind. White bass are beginning to stage into large tributaries, relating to ledges and bait. Water and air temps are still cruel in how cold it is but the the bigger white bass and hybrids and starting to bite along with a bunch of other species that relate to the ledges. You just never know what you’re going to find this time of year in the water.

I have a particular setup I like to use starting with the terminal tackle. ¼ oz jig head thin wire I know most people are scratching their heads on this. My reason for the thinner wire is the bite is soft and not committed, having a thinner wire you have a better chance of the fish hooking itself, not to mention you don’t need a massive hookset to set it. Make sure your drag is not set too tight or you might have a fish straighten the hooks out. The line is crucial I have three different weights I like using but mostly I end up using 8lb line. Yes I said 8lb line for big hybrids the fish are just looking for a reason not to bite 8lb line is as subtle as it gets. Just a nice sensitive rod 7ft ish medium with a fast tip. Buy something decent I burned up a Pflueger Trion rod and reel last season only had about 4 or 5 months on it.

The lures need to be small not just smallish but miniature nothing bigger than 2.5 inches and even that can be too big at times depending on the fish’s mood. I personally prefer small swim baits in a pearl or white color. Fish them slow on the bottom or just off the bottom along ledges the fish are right on the bottom mostly right now. Be prepared to catch drum, carp, hybrids, whites, sauger and catfish you just never know this time of year. My secret is using scent, scent will make all the difference. I noticed that you get more variety of fish using scent in the winter adding to the fun of winter fishing. If you do find fish schooling and they are trash fish always fish the edges of the group seems like you can always pick a good hybrid out of the group. Fishin the top and bottom of the school the hybrids seem to relate to these schools but on the edges.

Water temps are from 35 to 45 degrees so fish it “slow and low” I like to let my bait lay on the bottom sometimes for a few seconds during pauses. Good luck out there and be safe cold water is nothing to play around in. Please subscribe to my blog for more good fishing.

Sometimes just finding that one piece of winter gear you need to round out everything else you own is tricky especially if you’re talking about a PFD, most are designed to keep you cool and not warm and warmth is what’s needed. There are so many PFD’s out there to pick from and with temps dropping into the 20s and going lower you really shouldn’t wear a inflatable PFD which is my go to pfd. In cold weather they don’t inflate as much not giving you the floatation you may need.

4.5 inches thick old PFD front and back together

The biggest gripe I always have is how bulky a traditional PFD is and once you layer up for cold conditions they make it even worst not to mention you really almost need a separate winter PFD just to have one to fit on over all your layers. I hate it when your trying as hard as you can to target a small group of fish and your rod butt hits you PFD when working the bait or worst yet when you’re setting the hook a slob of a fish and the rod butt catches on your PFD only to feel the fish come off.

Only 2inches thick the front and back together

I went to Bass Pro to pick up a cheap vest for the winter the cheap ones were bulky in the front and back, but the price was right $49.98, I’m only using it at most 3 months of the year . They were having BPS Santaland being it’s right before the holidays which was where all the PFDs were. When I found where they had put them all the PFDs were smashed on top of each other, which was magic, just one of the XPS Deluxe Fishing vests were mixed in and when I saw it, I just had to check it out.

Fleece collar help keeps you warm

XPS Deluxe Fishing vest is different then most PFDs, most PFDs have all the foam floatation located in the front and back where on the XPS Deluxe Fishing vest its distributed all the way around the vest adding a layer of warmth and greatly reducing the bulk on the front and back. Not only is it less bulky and warmer this vest comes in sizes up to 4xl. With fleece lined pockets to warm your hands up when they get cold from fishing and it doesn’t stop there it has a fleece collar as well. Is this thing made for me or what.

My one disappointment with this vest there’s no place to put my knife, I always like to have one handy, you never know when that catfishing line is going to cause problems.

The XPS deluxe fishing vest make a great winter kayak fishing vest its slim, warm and the fleece lined pockets really dial this vest into keeping you warm. Coming in at only $69.98 what a great value on a piece of critical importance in the winter.